NCAA Champions Clark Burckle, Mallory Comerford, Get Married in Louisville

NCAA Champion swimmers Clark Burckle and Mallory Comerford were married last weekend in their home town of Louisville, Kentucky.

In a ceremony at Ashbourne Farms, the swimming power couple were married on October 22 before departing for their honeymoon in South Africa, where they visited the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and the Oldenburg Vineyards in Stellenbosch.

The two were engaged in September after dating since 2019.

Burckle, 35, is a native of Louisville, though he attended college first at the University of Florida and then at the University of Arizona. At Arizona, he was the 2010 NCAA Champion in the 200 yard breaststroke, part of the team’s 3rd place overall finish.

He then went on to qualify for the 2012 US Olympic Team, finishing 6th in the 200 breaststroke at the London Games.

After his swimming career concluded at the 2013 US National Championships, Burckle went on to work in sports media at Nielsen and FloSports before returning home to Louisville to take over the family business managing tennis, swim, and fitness clubs in Louisville. The clubs, the Blairwood Tennis, Swim and Fitness; and Louisville Tennis Club, were sold to Genesis Health Clubs in March 2023 after more than 30 years of family ownership.

Earlier this year, Burckle underwent surgery to remove a noncancerous tumor.

Comerford, 26, is from western Michigan but made her way to Louisville to swim for the University of Louisville from 2015 through 2019 where she won three consecutive NCAA titles in the 200 yard freestyle and the 2019 title in the 100 yard freestyle.

She also broke the American Record in the 100 meter freestyle at the 2017 World Championships, swimming 52.59 on a relay opening leg.

While Comerford was a long-time member of the US National Team and won a lot of international medals, including 14 World Championships on short course and long course relays, she never qualified for a US Olympic Team.

She was named the 2017 Golden Goggles Award winner for Breakout Performer of the Year. Her biggest individual international finish was a silver in the 200 free at the 2018 World Short Course Swimming Championships.

Comerford has not officially announced her retirement from swimming, but also has not raced since the 2022 US National Championships, where she finished 4th in the 100 free.